Thursday, April 4, 2013

Gun Violence: Missouri One of Worst States With High Crime Rates, Weak Laws (REPORT)

Though top Republicans in Missouri are devoting a lot of time and money to protect the privacy of gun owners, a new report says that officials in the state have a much bigger problem they need to address: really high rates of gun violence supported by very weak laws.

The Center for American Progress released a report yesterday analyzing gun violence and gun laws in all 50 states -- and found that Missouri is one of the top ten worst in several areas.

"The best way to prevent gun violence is to ensure that dangerous people and criminals that are not permitted to have guns can't get them in the first place," Chelsea Parsons, a co-author of the study, tells Daily RFT.

The report, called America Under the Gun, from the liberal institute based in Washington, D.C., has a number of alarming statistics about gun violence in Missouri that its authors say should encourage lawmakers here to enact more sensible policies.

Overall, Missouri was No. 8 for the highest level of gun violence, according to the report, which analyzed a range of 2010 gun-violence indicators, including overall firearm deaths, homicides, suicides, law-enforcement gun fatalities, crime-gun export rates and more. The full report and a Missouri-specific fact sheet are on view below.